Tom’s Comments

This was a really needed pick-me-up and injection of hope for humanity just when things looked their bleakest. Long live the fighters.

Personally, I won't sleep soundly until I see the NSA's data centers bulldozed on the evening news. There's no reason to believe they won't simply continue collecting everything even when it's deemed illegal.

... that this trade deal will fall apart (thanks to the NSA spying on everyone taking part in the deal, of course.) They're trying to manage the reason *why* it fell apart - trying to blame it on the reaction to the NSA spy scandal, rather than the scandal itself.

Sorry Americans, you thieving, spying scum - the Balkanization of the internet will continue apace, and the faster you're routed around like a malicious network node, the better. Bye bye! Maybe we'll welcome you back online when you stop craving "information dominance" so madly.

Is Hayden's behavior a sign of early dementia, or is there some method behind the madness? Maybe there's an NSA think-tank somewhere, carefully coordinating the figureheads' public behavior to be as macho and authoritarian as possible, sending a tacit message to other such creatures in law and government that the system has their backs...

Am I paranoid for suspecting the NSA has a playbook for everything? ;)

"But the most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success."

You don't have to be working for the Russians just because you're working against America. Working against America has recently become a fun and ethical hobby for pretty much the whole planet. This is because you're the bad guys.